Improvement in elevators



danni Sr/)taire abent-v (fettine.

-Letters Patent No. 92,092, dated Jane 29, 1869.

IMPROVEMENT IN ELEVATORS.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, HENRY G. PORTER, of- Grand Rapids, in the county of Kent, and in the State of Michigan, have invented certain new andl useful Improvements in Railway Hay-Elevator; and do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being'had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon. v

The nature of my invention consists in the construction and general arrangement of a Railway Hay-Elevator with horse-power, by which hay,or any other article, may be hoisted up, and carried over to any part of the barn desired, and which saves the backing up of the horse, when the fork is to be lowered.

In order to enable others skilled in the art to which my invention appertains, to make and use the same, I will nowproceed to describe its construction and ope1ation,{l'eferring to the annexed drawings, which form a part of this speciication, and in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of the'elevator;

Figure 2, au-'inside view ofthe carriage; and

Figure 3, 1a perspedtive of the slide in said carriage.

A represents a beam, placed horizontally near the roof of a barn, and which beam supports the carriage B.

The carriage B consists of two plates, Am m, placed veltically, one on each side of the beam A, the upper ends of said plates extending above the beam, and having two rollers, 0r wheels, un, pivoted between them. lhe rollers n n thus support the carriage, and allow it t0 move baclm'ard and forward on the beam,the main portion of the carriage being suspended below the beam.

To the lower edges of the plates m m is secured -a circular plate, o, which has a hole through its centre.

On the upper side of the cil'cular plate o, between the plates m m, is placed a slotted slide, e, which is' secured by a screw, or headed bolt, e', through its slot, so that it may easily be inoved back and forth, as occasion may require.

The slot in the slide e is, at its forward end, enlarged and rounded, as shown in lig. 3; and the slide is, at its front end, provided with two pins, orY projecting flanges, e" and e, placed a suitable distance apart..V

Between the plates m an, toward their rear part, is pivoted a pulley, a, around which the hoisting-rope passes.

Above said pulley is pi end ot' which rests on a lever, l), and the rear end ex. tends slightly beyond the rear end of the carriage.

The arm l is, on its under side, provided with two prongs, d, which extend downward, resting ou the flanges oi' the pulley a, leaving suiicient room between them to allow the hoisting-rope to pass freely between them over said pulley.

In front of and slightly above the pulley a, is pivoted a bent lever, b, onearm of which extends infront voted an arm, d, the -frontr the other arm extends downward in front of the pulley c, its lower end being placed in' rear of and against the pin, or ange e on the slide c, rooml being left between this arm and the pulley a, suilicient to allow the hoist ing-rope to pass, withoutinteitering with, o r in any manner disturbing said lever.

The hoisting-rope p, to one end of which the fork l is attached, passes up through the circular plate o, and through the slot in the slide e, said slide being so placed, that the round portion of its slot -is just over the hole in the plate o.

rlhe hoisting-rope p then passes over the pulley a, as shown in fig. 2, and out at the rear side of the carriage B, passing over pulleys C C, placed at suitable points inside or outside the barn, connecting with the horse-power D.

At a suitable point on the rope p, above the fork l, is placeda round metal ball, c, which, when the fork is being hoisted, passes through the rounded portion of the slot outhe slide e, and after rising above the same, strikes the lower arm of the level' b, which then coming in contact with the pin c", moves the slide e forward, so that the'rounded portion of the slot thereon movesv away from the hole in the circular plate o, thus preventing the rope from sliding down again..

bar E, which extends downward from the end of the beam A, at such a'point, that when the carriage B strikes the same, the fork will be just above the place from which the hay is to be hoisted, thus preventing the carriage from moving on 'the beam, until said hook shall have become disengaged. Now at the same time'as 'the iron,c,- forces the lower arm ofthe lever b to move the slide e, the upperarm of said lever is raised, and the hook g disengaged from the slotted bar E, when the carriage will at once move on the beam A, to the place where it is desired to unload the hay. 'It will be seen, that while the carriage is so moving on the beam, the prongs d on the aim d prevent the fork from being raised any higher, said prongs catching on the iron, c.

At the point ou the beam A where it is desired to unload the hay, is placed the stop-arrangement, which consists of two metal bars, or plates, i t', placed one ou each side of the beam A, their upper ends having between them a roller, or wheel, Ar, which rests on the beam A, the plates, or bars it' extending below said beam.

Between their lower ends is pivoted an arm, s, the rear end of which is provided with a roller, t, of suliicient weight to raise the front end of the arm up against the underside of the beam. This frontend being bent in any place' desired.

To the front end of the arm s a rope, k, is suspended, so that, by pulling on -said rope, the rear end ofthe arm 'of the carriage B, and isprovided with a hook, g; and l The hook g of the leverb is caught -iu the slotted I upward and pointed, keeps the stop-arrangement steady' can be raised, until the roller t strikes the beam A, when the whole stop-arrangement is easily moved to any point desired, by the aid ofthe rope, It.

'lhe stop-arrangement having been placed in proper place, when the carriage B strikes the same, the front end of the arm s will strike the rear end ofthe arm d, raising its front end, also the prongs d', which then allow the iron, c, to slip over the pulley a, until the fork Zstrikes the circular plate of The ork Zbeing of the construction described in my v patent of March 3, 1868, the act of the fork strikii'xg said circular plate, will trip the fork without the aid of any trip-rope, straighten the tines, and unload the hay.

The raising `of the hay upward, and the moving of the carriage, is accomplished by the horse-power D; and as soon as the hay is unloaded, the hoisting-rope j) will be let loose, in a manner hereinafter to be de-l scribed.

'lo the front end of the carriage B is attached a rope, which passes over suitable pulleys either inside or outside of the barn, and has a weight, h, at its lower end for the purpose of moving the carriage B forward again on the beam A. As soon as the hay is unloaded, and the hoisting-rope p slackeued, the carriage B will move forward again. The weight of the fork l will then carry the iron, c, around the pulley a., raising the arm d for that purpose, until the said iron rests on the slide e, said slide having, as above described, been moved forward. 'lhe hook y then catches in the slot on the bar E, holding the carriage in place. The lower end ofthe har E is bent, so as to strike the piu e on the `slide e, when the carriage arrives up to it. This moves the slide e backward again, so that the rounded portion of the slot in said slide comes over the hole in Vthe plate o, thus allowing the iron, c, to `pass down- `ward,and the fork to descend.

,-The horse-power I) consists of a frame, f, in which is placed 'a roller, a', to which the end of the hoistingrope p is secured. a

The roller a is, at one end, provided with a mitrewheel, b', and turns freely on its journals.

The mitre-wheel b' gears into a large wheel, e', on a Vertical shaft, f.

Said shaft passes up through the frame f, and is provided with a collar, y', to which the sweep h is secured.

The collar g is placed in the upper part of the frame f, and so arranged, that by turning the sweep h', the shaftf' and wheel c'are turned also; but the shaft f Janus can be raised upward, withoutinterfering with the collar and sweep.

'lhe shaft j" extends above theswecp, and is, at its upper end, pivoted to a lever, i', which ,is pivoted, in some suitable manner, at its front end; and the rear end tits into notches ou a bar, k', also placed ou the sweep. a

By raising the lever z'.,.the shaft f and wheel c' are raised up from the mitre-wheel l1.

It will be seen, that when the team is attached to the sweep h', the lever being down, and the team started, the roller a will turn, winding up the hoisting-rope 11, and as soon as the fork is unloaded1 it will not be necessary to back upthe horse, but only to raise the lever ti', when the wheels b e become disengaged,

and the carriage B, moving forward, will at once unwind the rope from the roller. As soon as it is desired to start the team again, lower the lever i', and the machine is ready.

The carriage B may move on rails, ropes, dre., as well as`on a beam, and the weight It, which moves the .carriage forward, may be dispensed with, by raising the rear end of the beam A, when the carriage will nieve forward of its own weight.

The beam A need not, necessarily, be stationary; it may be suspended from the peak of the barn, or at any place desired.

l do not eontine myself', in the use ,of this machine, to elevating and transferring hay, as it may be used for any articles whatever.

Having thus fully described my invention,

\Vhat I claimas new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. The arrangement, in the carriage B, of the pulley a, bent lever b, slotted slide c, pins e c, and arm.

d, with its prongs d', all substantially as and for the purposes herein set forth.

2. In combination with the above, the plate o, for the purpose of dumping, or tripping the hay-ibrli, sub stantially as herein set forth. e

3. rlhe stop-arran gement, consisting ofthe bars i i, roller r, pointed arm s, and roller t, all constructed and operating vsubstantially as and for the purposes herein set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing, I have hereunto set my hand, this 22d day ofJamlary,1S6.). Witnesses: HENRY G. POR-TER.

J Amas A. Roenes, Jos. H. WRZLUNG. 

